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List of FIFA World Cup hat tricks

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List of FIFA World Cup hat-tricks

This is a list of all hat-tricks scored during FIFA World Cups; that is, the occasions when a footballer has scored three or more goals in a single football World Cup match (not including FIFA World Cup qualification matches). Scoring a hat-trick in a World Cup is a relatively rare event: only 50 hat-tricks have been scored in over 700 matches in the 19 editions of the World Cup tournament. As FIFA is the governing body of football (soccer), official hat-tricks are only noted when FIFA recognises that at least three goals were scored by one player in one match.

The first hat-trick was scored by Bert Patenaude of the United States, playing against Paraguay in 1930; the most recent (as of 000000002014-06-25-000025 June 2014) was by Xherdan Shaqiri of Switzerland, playing against Honduras in 2014.

The only World Cup not to have at least one hat-trick scored was the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The record number of hat-tricks in a single World Cup tournament is eight, during the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland.

Notable World Cup hat-tricks

  • Bert Patenaude was the first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup match, on 17 July 1930 against Paraguay. However, until 10 November 2006 the first hat-trick that FIFA acknowledged had been scored by Guillermo Stábile of Argentina, two days after Patenaude. In 2006 FIFA announced that Patenaude's claim to being the first hat-trick scorer was valid, as teammate Tom Florie's goal in the match against Paraguay was reattributed to him.
  • Four players have scored two hat-tricks in World Cup matches: Sándor Kocsis (both 1954); Just Fontaine (both 1958); Gerd Müller (both 1970); and Gabriel Batistuta (1994 and 1998). Batistuta is thus the only person to score hat-tricks in two World Cups. He has another unique record of scoring hat-tricks, both were achieved on 21 June of the year, against World Cup finals debutants (Greece and Jamaica), and each time the third goal was a penalty. Kocsis and Müller scored their hat-tricks in consecutive matches.
  • Oleg Salenko is the only player in World Cup history to have scored five goals in a single match. He did this during the 1994 FIFA World Cup match between Russia and Cameroon.
  • One player has scored a hat-trick on his international début: Guillermo Stábile (1930).
  • One player has scored four goals for the losing side: Ernest Wilimowski (5-6, 1938).
  • Two players have scored a hat-trick for the losing side: Josef Hügi (5-7, 1954); and Igor Belanov (3-4, 1986).
  • There have been three occasions when two hat-tricks have been scored in the same match. Two occurred during the 1938 FIFA World Cup: when Sweden defeated Cuba, Gustav Wetterström and Harry Andersson, both playing for Sweden, scored three goals, with the former completing his in the first half. In the Brazil vs Poland, Leônidas did it for Brazil and Ernest Wilimowski for Poland. One occurred in 1954: when Austria defeated Switzerland, Theodor Wagner and Josef Hügi scored hat-tricks for Austria and Switzerland respectively.
  • Only one man has scored a hat-trick in a World Cup Final. Geoff Hurst scored three for England against West Germany in the 1966 Final. This is also the longest hat-trick to be completed - most time between the first and third goals. His first goal came at 10', while the second goals were in extra time at 98' and 120'.
  • The quickest hat-trick is Erich Probst, who scored at 4', 21', and 24' in 1954, playing for Austria against Czechoslovakia in the first round.
  • The briefest hat-trick to be completed - that is, the shortest time between the first and third goals - is the one by László Kiss in 1982 against El Salvador. He scored at 69', 72', and 76', making the time between his first and third 7 minutes. This is also the only hat-trick scored by a substitute.
  • The only players to have scored from three headers in a single match are Tomáš Skuhravý in 1990 and Miroslav Klose in 2002.
  • The youngest player to score a hat-trick is Pelé, at 17 years and 244 days.

    • References

    List of FIFA World Cup hat-tricks Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA